World's Cheapest Car Nano to be launched

 Tata Motors will launch the much-awaited Nano, slated to be the world's cheapest car at less than $2,000, on Monday, but it may be the middle of the year before it is seen on Indian roads.
The formal launch comes 15 months after the tiny, snub-nosed car debuted at a glittering world autoshow in Delhi, and is seen as an effort by the leading Indian vehicle maker to meet a deadline it had set to launch in the first quarter of 2009.
Bookings will only be taken from the second week of April, with delivery some time after that.
"It would take at least until July for the cars to be actually on the roads," a sales manager at Mumbai dealership Fortune Cars said.
Where to book your Nano
The car was initially set to go on sale last October, but the main production plant had to be moved to Gujarat on the west coast following land protests in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Nano fever grips Bollywood
Only about 50,000 cars will be available in the first year, analysts say, until the 250,000-unit capacity in Gujarat comes on stream.
"We get a lot of enquiries, all wanting to know about the price, the variants available," said an official at Wasan Motors, another dealer.
More India business stories | Get the latest Sensex update
Tata Motors has provided little details about the Nano to the dealers, but analysts say the cash-strapped company is likely to ask for a deposit of Rs 70,000 on booking.
"There has been a lot of hype created around the car," the manager at Fortune Cars said. "Some are genuine customers, others are just curious."


launch of the Nano at the New Delhi motor show

The Tata Nano might be the world's cheapest car but there was nothing cut-price about its launch.

After weeks of anticipation and a morning of wall-to-wall build-up on local television networks, which covered the event live, India's "people's car" rolled on stage to the epic strains of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, with Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Motors, at the wheel.

You could almost hear the cheer going up across India - and you couldn't hear yourself think in the auditorium - as waiting journalists, members of the public and the minister of commerce, Kamal Nath, broke into spontaneous and euphoric applause.

Tata (below), suave and 70, appeared to have a lump in his throat as he announced the realisation of a dream that has taken more than four years and 500 engineers to bring to reality.

This was more than just the launch of a car, he said: it was the jumping-off point for an ideal that its designers hope will revolutionise the lives of millions of Indians, most of whom live in rural areas many miles from the nearest bus stop.

A hologram of an Indian family four-up on a motorbike - a familiar sight in the country - reminded the audience that while the Nano might not have airbags and European safety certificates, it's a good deal safer than a two-wheeler.

Mr Tata spoke with feeling: "I observed families riding on two-wheelers - the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family.

"Today, we indeed have a people's car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements, to be fuel-efficient and low on emissions." Tata's security men pleaded in vain for people not to scratch the car as enthusiasm swept away the choreographed launch ceremony and more than 1,000 delegates and journalists fought for a glimpse of the new machine.

And for Indians in the audience, the launch of Tata's wonder-car was an emphatic, jubilant statement to the world of what India is capable of delivering.